Viking Travel’s Latin America desk expert just returned from Panama using the new nonstop service from Chicago. Consider Panama as your next choice for all inclusive vacations. Great Value all inclusive packages available! Talk to the travel experts that offer first-hand knowledge and expertise when traveling to Panama. For more information call 630-321-1664 or visit www.vikingtvl.com.Laura LukasikManagerViking Travel Service700 Pasquinelli Drive, Suite CWestmont, Illinois 60559Ph: 630-321-1664...Fax: 630-321-1669Toll Free 1-800-233-3963E-mail llukasik@vikingtvl.comWeb Site www.vikingtvl.comMember: PROUD MEMBER OF ENSEMBLE/ASTA/NTA/CLIA/APTA

Have you heard of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act? Most consumers have not.The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act ensures that you can to bring your car to our shop because we are able to keep a warranty valid and up to date, just like a dealership does.We can do maintenance and repairs on your vehicles according to the manufacturer's schedule and that, when we do that work, the warranty is still good. One of the act's main points is that the manufacturers can't mandate where people get their service work done. This falls under a portion of the act that refers to "tie in sales" which are sales that are tied in to a warranty - as in "your vehicle warranty is only good if you buy maintenance service from the dealer." That is a no-no according to the law. The only time a manufacturer can mandate where someone gets warranty work done is IF the manufacturer can PROVE that they, or their representatives are the ONLY place that a particular service can be done properly.We just want to remind you that J&C Auto Service's work can maintain your vehicle warranty.

If the subject of this interests you, just Click here for detailed information.

We are currently accepting new clients and we are scheduling "One on One QuickBooks Training" sessions. The training is done using your own QuickBooks files. You choose the areas of QuickBooks where you need help or want to learn new techniques that will help you become more efficient working with QuickBooks.

Janice Papais is a CPA and a QuickBooks Pro Advisor who does our QuickBooks training. Contact her today.

Need help with your accounting, your taxes, or your payroll?

Since the initial consultation is free, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

For those in Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Downers Grove, Darien, Willowbrook and Dupage county, now is the time to walk around the outside of your house and winterize your home. Disconnect hoses from faucets, caulk any gaps in siding, and replace any windows or doors that let cold air in last winter. Do you really want to look through plastic wrap all winter?

Squeeze the gas pedal for a couple of seconds.This puts you in control of the car and directs the car straight down the road.It also prevents you from committing the mortal sins of braking and turning.After a couple of seconds, gently and smoothly release the accelator pedal.The drag force of a completely flat tire is so potent that pushing the gas will not allow the vehicle to go faster.

Most importantly, drive straight down your lane.

Keep your feet away from the brake (or clutch).

Allow the car to coast down to as slow a speed as is safe (30 mph is good).

Engage your turn signal and gently turn toward the shoulder of the road that's on the same side as the blown tire:This lessens your chance of losing control and will make the tire change safer. If the situation requires, you may ever so lightly squeeze the brakes.

Almost all highway blowouts and tread separations occur with the car traveling in a straight line on a very hot day athigh speeds with an underinflated tire. The repeated flexing of an underinflated tire causes the failure.

"This past summer I worked with Paul Lyngso at the Burr Ridge Kettlebell Club and what a work out it was! I dropped 20 pounds in about a month and a half and gained muscles I forgot I had. This is a great place to learn how to properly work out and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. Thanks Paul for all the work and for pushing me this summer. When I went back to college people couldn't believe how much weight I had lost.Now my friends want me to teach them how to work out with kettlebells. Looking forward to coming back home and taking more lessons!" - Tony Batson

Control the ones you can to avoid penalties.Russ Caforio russ@caforio.net 630-495-2901 12 PENALTIES OBAMACARE CAN SLAP EMPLOYERS WITHby Jared Bilski September 10, 2013You’re well aware of the two most costly Obamacare penalties: the $2,000-per-employee penalty for not offering healthcare coverage, and the $3,000-per-worker penalty for offering “unaffordable” coverage. Both apply to large employers. But there are plenty of other health reform penalties that can wreak havoc on any employer’s bottom line.Many of the healthcare reform law’s provisions come with a general non-compliance penalty of $100 per day that can be slapped on employers.The feds require firms to correct non-compliance issues within 30 days of discovering them or pay the penalty for each day the company failed to comply, and the penalty must be reported on IRS Form 8928.That $100 per day fine can get expensive depending on the length of time an employer is not in compliance and the number of employees impacted. In some cases, the fines can total as much as $500,000.Non-compliance penaltiesHere are 12 Obamacare regs that carry $100-per-day penalties for non-compliance:1. Violating Obamacare’s limits restrictions. As benefits pros are well aware, group health plans may not establish any annual or lifetime dollar limits on essential health benefits — beginning on Jan. 1, 2014. Doing so will trigger the non-compliance penalty.2. Not extending coverage to dependents up to the age of 26. Coverage of dependents up to the age of 26 was among the first wave of Obamacare provisions to kick in for companies sponsoring health plans, and failing to comply continues triggers a $100-per day penalty for each individual affected by the violation.3. Retroactive rescission of benefits. Health plans can’t cancel or discontinue coverage retroactively except in cases where premiums/contributions aren’t paid.4. Not covering the preventive care required under the law. Obamacare includes a host of preventative services that plans must cover without imposing co-pays or cost-sharing on participants — and failing to do so subjects firms to the non-compliance penalty.5. Failing to have a revised appeal process (including external appeals). The requirement to provide an appeal process was detailed in the Obamacare regs and was created to protect patients whose insurance claims were denied by their healthcare providers.6. Not providing timely notices. There are a slew of notices all employers are responsible for providing under Obamacare. Right around the corner, there’s the exchange notice requirement, which HR Benefits Alert detailed previously and must be satisfied by Oct. 1, 2013. Firms will be hit with the general penalty for not furnishing these documents in a timely manner.7. Disregarding the reform law’s rules on emergency room visits. The law includes a number of patient safeguards when it comes to ER visits — such as the elimination of prior-authorization — and failing to comply also triggers the Obamacare penalty.8. Violating the reform law’s rules on the designation of primary care physicians. If employers’ health plans require employees to select a primary care physician, they must tell employees they can choose any participating provider.9. Imposing pre-existing condition exclusions. Beginning in 2014, health plans will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to workers because they have a preexisting medical condition.10. Failing to abide by new out-of-pocket costs. Plans can’t exceed the out-of-pocket limits set forth in the health reform law — or they’ll be penalized. However, as HR Benefits Alert just reported, a glitch in the law makes the out-of-limit amount much higher than originally anticipated for some plans.11. Violating the health reform law’s 90-day waiting period limit for coverage. Employers offering health coverage to employees can’tmake employees wait longer than 90 days to be eligible for that coverage. The feds just issued new guidance on this provision.12. Nondiscrimination rule violations. Essentially, the nondiscrimination rules prohibit employers from offering current or former workers healthcare coverage levels that aren’t available to all employees within the company. (Note: The feds haven’t released the final nondiscrimination rules yet — but they’re expected to do so early in 2014.)

Having received approval to bid on alumni travel for Northern Illinois University, we are submitting a tour program for an island cruise and tour to Greece for September 2014. We have also contacted Quincy University inQuincy, IL to determine our eligibility for similar travel programs for that institution. Alumni travel is an ever expanding feature of alumni services offered by these institutions as well as those at the secondary level – high schools. For more information contact Viking Travel at 630-321-1664 and/or see these and other services at www.vikingtvl.com.Richard HaymakerDirector - Business DevelopmentFaith Based Travel DivisionViking Travel700 Pasquinelli Drive, Suite CWestmont, IL 60559P: Office Direct - 571-4585 x 114P: Viking Head Office - 630-321-1664C: 630-341-1415Web Site: www.vikingtvl.com